New Insight Meditation Study Group Forming – Every other Tuesday at Park Place 7-8:30 PM.
Dear Sangha,
A new Insight Meditation Group is forming. The introductory meeting will be
on Tuesday, April 23rd from 7:00 to 8:30 at Park Place. This is a study
group that uses a boxed set entitled
“Insight Meditation, A Step by Step
Course on How to Meditate” by Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein. The box
includes a work book, 2 CD’s containing guided meditations, and study cards.
It is available on Amazon today for $20.95. All participants will need to
have a copy of this book for the course.
We have just concluded a group that met every other Tuesday for five months.
I know that sounds like an intimidating amount of time. At our last meeting
I passed the stone and asked people how the course had deepened their
practice. As the stone went around people said that the group meant a great
deal to them and that they would like to take the course again. As I
listened I thought that we could offer the class again in two or three
years. By the end of the discussion following the stone passing it became
apparent people wanted to start a new group in two or three weeks!
And so we shall. The format this time will be to meet every Tuesday for 19
consecutive weeks. The book consists of an introduction and 9 chapters. We
will spend one week on the introduction and two weeks on each chapter. Lest
that seem a great deal of time to you, know that almost everyone who started
the last group finished, and that almost all of those people demanded that
the class be offered again right away! The course is rich in the teachings
from the study materials and the participants. This is also a great way to
deepen relationships with members of the Sangha.
Commitment. This is a study group to learn about Insight Meditation. The
commitment you make is to yourself. Most of the groups at the Mindfulness
Center are very passive. You come to the Sangha, meditate, listen to the
reading and discussion and leave. There is no preparation, no homework and
no commitment. By contrast this group requires you to be an active
participant in your own education. There is homework and most importantly
integrating what you learn into your own practice. The purpose of the group
is to simply come together to learn from each other. It would be nice if
people would make the group meetings a priority. The class commitment is 6
hours a month but is incidental to the larger picture of deepening and
strengthening your practice between classes.
Anyone can come to the first meeting to get a feel for what the class will
be like.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Insight Meditation is the gift you can give yourself that keeps on giving.
Peace & kindness,
Dave Zeman
